Copyright: Copyright ® 1996 by Luke Chao.


Luke's Screen Saver I
Luke's Screen Saver I Configuration

This is where you set the options for this screen saver.  To test it, press Test in Desktop (Control Panel in Windows 3.x) or Preview in Display (Windows 95).  For all of the pictures, it can be a bitmap (.BMP and .DIB), Windows Metafile (.WMF), or an icon (.ICO), but keep in mind that if it's too big, the animation will appear to be jerky, especially if you want it to be fast.  Also, if you have two pictures that are 256 colours, it'll sometimes look funny if you use 16/256 colours.  I'm told that it doesn't do that if you have more colours but I wouldn't know...  You should also keep the sound files small because smaller files reduce loading time.  If you have no idea what I'm talking about, try playing around with the screen saver and maybe it'll give you some ideas.  There's also a line of help at the bottom of the screen.

Files

Choose Picture...

This is the picture that's displayed while it's moving around the screen.  It'll change to the Second Picture when it hits the edge (in Horizontal, Vertical and Bounce Mode only).

Choose Second Picture...

This is the picture that's displayed when it hits the edge (except in Random mode -- this is because in random mode it hits the edge quite often, usually creating a pretty [ugly?] loud noise).

Choose Sound...

This sound file is played when ever the animation hits the edge of the screen, except in Random mode.  This sound has to be a WAV file, which can be recorded using Sound Recorder, which comes with Windows.  While this file is playing, you can't do anything (the system is suspended momentarily), so keep this short.  You might have to restart Windows if you change this file (not the file name; the actual file).

Use the default pictures and sound (the neon face)

If you check this, it'll use the neon face and the "ow" sound for the animation.

Background Options

Choose Background Picture

This is if you want a picture in the background.  Always make sure that you have a valid bitmap; if you can open it with Paintbrush you should be able to use it with this.  Since the background is tiled, you might run into problems if you have an invalid bitmap for the background.

Choose Background Colour

If you're not using a pattern for a background, this is what colour you want for the background.  For the best protection against burn-in, black is the best colour, but you might want to change this colour depending on what pictures you're using.

Current Colour

This is what the current colour is.  If it's not a colour but a pattern, the pattern's file name would be in this box.

Animation Method

If you choose...

      Bounce

The picure will bounce around the screen.

      Random

The picture will move randomly.

      Vertical

The picture will move up and down.

      Horizontal

The picture will move horizontally.

Background Music

If you choose...

      WAV

A WAV file will play in the background repeatedly.

      None

You won't have any background music.

      CD Audio

It'll play all the tracks on the audio CD that's in the drive.  If there isn't one, it'll be silent.

      MIDI music

It'll play a MIDI (.MID or .RMI) file repeatedly.

Choose the file for the above

This is to choose the file for the method above.  If it's CD audio, this button will be disabled, or dimmed, because it'll just play the CD that's in the CD ROM drive when the screen saver is running.

You might have to restart Windows if you change the CD, MID file or WAV.

Other Options

Mute WAV

If you don't want to hear a sound when it hits the edge of the screen but you still want it to pause, check this button.  Normally the animation will pause for the duration of the WAV file, but in this case you'll have to enter the amount of time you want to wait in the Seconds to Wait box.

Seconds to wait  (1 to 60)

This is explained above.

Speed of animation (1 - 50)

This is the speed of the animation, in pixels per 1/10ths of a second (ie. 5 = 50 pixels a second).  Five is a reasonable speed for Horizontal/Vertical and three is good for Random/Bounce mode in my opinion.

Ignore Keyboard

This is if you want to ignore all input from the keyboard.  You can only check one of the Ignore check boxes at one time.

Ignore Mouse

This is if you want to ignore all input from the mouse.  If you experience strange problems while running this screen saver (ie. exiting with no clear reason) or you have a sensitive mouse, check this.

Security options/buttons

This is a good screen saver "security wise".  You couldn't press CTRL-ALT-DEL to reboot the computer or ALT-TAB/ CTRL-ESC to another application then there's a password prompt.  Even if someone reboots the computer using the reset button it'll be recorded in a file.  However, that file can be edited and any determined hacker can still break into your system, so you shouldn't rely on this completely...

Change Password...

This brings up this window.

Password protected

If this is checked, it'll bring up this window whenever you do something in the screen saver.  This is if you don't want other people to mess with your computer while you're gone (unless they find the reset button...).

Keep Log

If you want to record what happens, check this.  It will record whenever the screen saver starts and ends, and every time an invalid password is entered.  If someone reboots the computer while the screen saver is running, in the log it'll record when the screen saver starts, but if it doesn't say when it ends, you'll know.  The log file is a plain text file, LSS.LOG (unless you change it) and it's in your Windows directory.

Log options

This button brings up this window.

OK

This is to save the options and exit.

Cancel

This is to exit without saving the options.

About...

This is for miscellaneous information.

Menus

   File

   Help

Copyright © 1996 by Luke Chao.  Internet: luke.chao@freenet.hamilton.on.ca


File
File Menu

This menu is on the main configuration form.  You can press the hotkey to activate one of these menus.

Save

This saves the options.

Exit

This exits the configuration program.  If the options have changed, it'll prompt you.

Copyright © 1996 by Luke Chao.  Internet: luke.chao@freenet.hamilton.on.ca


About

This screen contains miscellaneous information (copyright, system statistics...).

Copyright © 1996 by Luke Chao.  Internet: luke.chao@freenet.hamilton.on.ca


Saver Form

This is where all the action takes place.  But, this is the place I have the least to write about.  Most of the information about this is either at the configuration or the password prompt.

Copyright © 1996 by Luke Chao.  Internet: luke.chao@freenet.hamilton.on.ca


Change Password

This is where you change your password.  The password is MS compatible, so other screen savers, like the ones that came with Windows, should use this encryption scheme too.

Enter old password

This is where you enter your old password.  If you used a different screen saver before and you used a password with that, the password you type in here should be that one.

Enter new password

Enter the password you want to use here.

Re-enter password

In case you mistyped the new password, to avoid locking yourself out of your own computer, you'll have to type in the new password again here (if you cut and paste, that's kind of defeating the whole purpose, so I don't think you should do this).

Okay

This button saves the new password and closes the window.  If there's something wrong (like the old password is incorrect or if the two new passwords don't match), it'll tell you.

Cancel

This button closes this window and doesn't change anything.

Copyright © 1996 by Luke Chao.  Internet: luke.chao@freenet.hamilton.on.ca


Password Prompt

This is where you type in the password after you press a key or click or move the mouse and you have the password protection on.  If, for some reason it asks for a password when you didn't turn the password protection on, press Okay.  If you used a password in the past, you'll have to type that in, assuming you still remember it.  You have exactly one minute to type it in.  After that, it closes the window and you'll have to move the mouse/press a key and type in the password all over again.

Textbox

This is where you type in the password (duh).

Okay

If you're sure you typed in the password correctly, press this button.  If the password is wrong, it'll beep.

Cancel

If you change you mind about ending the screen saver, press this button and it'll hide this screen.  I don't know why I put this button on, since it'll hide the screen in a minute anyway.

Copyright © 1996 by Luke Chao.  Internet: luke.chao@freenet.hamilton.on.ca


Contents
Contents/Introduction

Please read the file README.TXT for last minute information not covered in this help file.

Welcome to the documentation for the one of the most flexible screen savers for Windows.  I'm assuming you already have some experience in Windows and screen savers; if you don't, read your Windows documentation.  This is a Shareware screen saver that is basically a moving bitmap.  I guess I could say that you "make your own screen saver" but it's not only that -- Check out these features:

•	Any valid picture (BMP, DIB, ICO, WMF) you want.

•	Any valid WAV file you want.

•	Any valid picture in the background.

•	Any valid music file in the background (MIDI, CD, WAV).

•	Four animation methods:  Horizontal, vertical, bounce, and random.

•	Customizable background colours (Any RGB colour).

•	Password options.

•	Keep a log of actions, including invalid passwords.

•	Customizable speed.

•	Option to ignore the mouse/keyboard.

•	No rebooting by CTRL-ALT-DEL, disabled ALT-TAB and CTRL-ESC.

Plus much, much more in the future!

This program is Shareware.  If you use it for 30 days, you MUST register it or stop using it.  Go here for more information.

If any of these help pages look funny (ie. strange), try maximizing the help window.

About This Program

Registration Information

Order form

Installation

File List

Revisions

Q & A

Troubleshooting

Other Programs That I Wrote

Credits

Main Configuration Screen

File Menu

Help Menu

Change Password

View Log

Password Prompt

About Screen

Screen Saver

This program does almost no error trapping, so always save your work before you use this screen saver.  In case you want to contact me, you can e-mail me at: "luke.chao@freenet.hamilton.on.ca" or you could go to my web page at: "http://www.freenet.hamilton.on.ca/~ab470/".  Go to my web page to get updates and/ or support.  Alternately, you can contact me on many Hamilton-Wentworth (Ontario, Canada) area BBSs.  I'm usually under my real name, but sometimes I use my alias, Lucas Chaos.  As a last resort, you can send me postal mail (see About this program).

Feel free to distribute this Shareware program to your friends or BBSs.

Custom Screen Savers

If you want a custom screen saver written e-mail me!  I'll (try to) write a screen saver (or any other program) customized to your needs and I'll give you the Visual Basic 3.0 source code!!!  Just tell me what you want in it (please don't e-mail me any large files without telling me first) and I'll give you a quote.  If I use your idea in a screen saver that I want to be made available to the general public, you'll receive the screen saver for free.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

THIS SOFTWARE AND MANUAL ARE SOLD "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED.  BECAUSE OF THE VARIOUS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS INTO WHICH THIS PROGRAM MAY BE PUT, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED.  GOOD DATA PROCESSING PROCEDURE DICTATES THAT ANY PROGRAM BE THOROUGHLY TESTED WITH NON-CRITICAL DATA BEFORE RELYING ON IT.  THE USER MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE PROGRAM.  ANY LIABILITY OF THE SELLER WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF PURCHASE PRICE.

Copyright © 1996 by Luke Chao.  Internet: luke.chao@freenet.hamilton.on.ca


Questions... And Answers

Q:  Why should I use a screen saver?

A:  Well, besides looking pretty and making a lot of noise :) screen savers prevent phosphor burn-in, prolonging the life of your monitor.

Q:  Why would I want to disable CTRL-ALT-DEL?

A:  This is for password protection.  If, for example, you own a computer store and you put this screen saver on.  Along comes a teenage who tries to break in.  Since you chose an uncommon password, he/she has a difficult time breaking in.  As long as he/she doesn't have access to the reboot button, your computer is safe.  In a more typical situation, you just want to stop a little kid from banging the buttons and accidentally restarting your computer.

Q:  When I register, why don't you give a discount for US funds?  It's worth more than Canadian.

A:  Since I live in Canada, it'll a lot easier to process Canadian cheques, etc.

Q:  How do I make a "transparent" bitmap?  I have a pattern but there's that ugly "border" around the two pictures.

A:  I'm working on it, but until then, use square/ rectangular bitmaps or use a pattern that won't look too bad with your picture (or vice versa).

Q:  What's all that ugly flickering?  How do I prevent it?

A:  Get a better computer.  Or, keep everything small (music, pictures, sounds).  In the configuration, it might flicker a lot... live with it :-).

Q:  How come your screen saver stops for no reason at all?

A:  You probably just have a really sensitive mouse and/or you bumped into the table or something.

Q:  This is a cool program!  Did you write any others like this?

A:  First of all, thanks!  I wrote another program and I probably will write more in the future.  Just look for "Written by Luke Chao".  I can safely say that at this point, I'm the only Luke Chao you'll encounter on the Internet.  If you go to my web page, you'll find all of the programs I'm working on and more information.  Or go to the bottom of this document to see what I’m working on now.

Q:  How come it's so slow when it starts and when I run the setup?

A:  If you think this is slow, wait until you see some other screen savers :) :) :)  Yes, compared to some screen savers it's slow, because there's so many options that you can set, so it has to read the configuration file several times.

Q:  How come there's no sound?

A:  Do you have a sound card or a speaker driver?  Are the speakers connected?  Is the sound turned up high enough that you can hear it?  Are you deaf :)  Is this the only program that has this problem?  If you didn't select a file, is the file OW!.WAV in the Windows directory (click here -- did you hear anything?  Do you have the MMSYSTEM.DLL file in you Windows\SYSTEM directory?  If this doesn’t help, I don’t know.

Q:  I have an icon or a custom control or a module or a subroutine that I want you to use in your program.  Could you use it?

A:  E-mail me and I'll look at it and if I like it, sure I'll use it.  You'll get proper credit, of course.

Q:  How come sometimes I couldn't see the picture but I could hear the sound?

A:  If you chose Random as the animation option, this will happen more often than if you choose Vertical or even Horizontal. Because of the way I use picture controls and random positions, there's a one in (the width of your screen minus the amount of blank space at the top of your picture) chance that you couldn't see anything.  To minimize the chances of this happening, make sure you, as my former art teacher says, "make good use of the layout area" when you're drawing your picture.

Q:  How do I make an icon for this screen saver???

A:  Note:  This is advanced stuff.  Don't do this if you don't know what you're doing.  First, back up your WIN.INI file.  Then under "programs" in "[windows]", in WIN.INI, add “SCR”.  Then restart Windows.  Now when you go into File Manager, all of your screen savers are defined as programs (if you double click them, it'll either run the screen saver or the configuration.  Now go to Program Manager and in the File menu, select New (in Windows 95, do the equivalent).  Choose "program item" and press Okay.  Then type in C:\WINDOWS\LUKESSS.SCR or whatever your Windows directory is.  Type in a description and press Okay.  Then you should have an icon for the screen saver itself.  If you want an icon for the setup, do exactly the same thing except instead of C:\WINDOWS\LUKESSS.SCR, type in "C:\WINDOWS\LUKESSS.SCR /C", give it a name and press okay.

Q:  This is called Luke's Screen Saver I.  Is there a Luke's Screen Saver II and a Luke's Screen Saver III???

A:  Well, not yet.  Probably in the future there will be since I can't think of a more original name.  If I'm going to make a major change (like support for MMMovies), I'll just call it Luke's Screen Saver II and I'll say it needs Luke's Screen Saver I so I don't need to distribute the VBX/DLL files.

Q:  How do you make your two pictures so similar?

A:  Okay, to do that, do the following steps:

1.)  Load your favorite graphics program

2.)  Draw your picture

3.)  Save the file

4.)  Make the necessary changes for the second picture

5.)  Select SAVE AS and save it under a different file name

6.)  Run the setup for this screen saver and select the two files.

Q:  When I installed it, it looked fine but recently it looks strange?  What happened?

A:  Let me ask you a question.  did you install any other programs after you installed this???  If you did, the setup program probably copied an older version of THREED.VBX over the existing one.  To remedy this problem, re-install this program or get a newer version of THREED.VBX (the one that came with VB. Pro 3.0 will do nicely).

Q:  How come the documentations for all of your programs look the same?

A:  Thanks for trying out all my programs!  They all have the same layout because I want to keep a standard format so the user wouldn't be confused.

Q:  How do I use a GIF/JPG/PCX/etc./whatever file with your screen saver?

A:  Well, this version doesn't support those files directly.  You can use a graphics program and convert the picture(s) to BMP/DIB/WMF/ICO.  If enough people are interested, I'll add support for those files, but that would mean I'll have to spend more money and I'll have to distribute bigger files.  Or you could e-mail me the picture (max size: 100 K) and I'll convert it for you if you're a registered user or if I'm in a good mood :)

Q:  Where could I get the latest (and hopefully least buggy) version of this program???

A:  Either go to my home page or e-mail me.  You might find it on a BBS or a FTP site on the Internet, but I couldn't guarantee it's the latest version.

Q:  Why does the colours in the screen saver look funny?

A:  If you have at least one meg of video memory, set it to 64K colours or more and it shouldn't work.  Some 256 colours might look funny in 256 colour mode.

Q:  Why do the 3-d option buttons (radio buttons) and check boxes look funny.

A:  Probably because you have Windows 95.  If you don't look closely, it should look okay.

Copyright © 1996 by Luke Chao.  Internet: luke.chao@freenet.hamilton.on.ca


File List

You'll need the following files in their directories to use this program.  You can use the installation program (if it's included) to install it.  If you're missing any of the following files or you suspect they have been tampered with, please contact me to get an unaltered version.  You may distribute this Shareware program as long as all of these files are included in their original state.

LUKESSS.SCR - the screen saver - your Windows directory

OW!.WAV - the default sound file - your Windows directory

LUKES_SS.HLP -  this documentation - your Windows directory

FILE_ID.DIZ - BBS description - if you don't plan on distributing this, you don't need it

README.TXT - last minute info - your Windows directory

VRBTD.386 - device driver for disabling CTRL-ALT-DEL - your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory

NOBOOT1.VBX - disable CTRL-ALT-DEL - your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory

THREED.VBX - cool 3-D effects - your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory

MCI.VBX - multimedia control - your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory

SPIN.VBX - spin control - your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory

CMDIALOG.VBX - control for standard colour/open dialogue - your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory

VBRUN300.DLL* - Visual Basic 3.0 runtime library (not included) - your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory

If it tells you that you already have THREED.VBX, SPIN.VBX, etc., then overwrite the old one only if this one is newer.

* VBRUN300.DLL, which is not included because of its size, is available on the Internet and many BBSs.


Installation/Setup
Installation/Setup/Requirements

Requirements:

Requires:

•	A PC running Windows 3.1 or higher (Windows 3.11, Windows 95, etc.)

•	The file VBRUN300.DLL

•	About 350K disk space (assuming an average sized log file)

Recommended:

•	8 MB RAM or more

•	256 colour or higher video driver

•	Sound card

First, you'll have to put the files in their appropriate directories.  See the File List for this.

INI file changes:

When you run the configuration and you press Okay, it'll write to the CONTROL.INI file for the screen saver settings.  However, if you want to disable rebooting, you'll have to add this line to the [386enh] section of your SYSTEM.INI file (note that it'll not work in standard mode):

DEVICE=VRBTD.386

You'll have to restart Windows for this to work.

Setting options:

To set the options, in Windows 3.x, go to Control Panel and double click the Desktop icon.  In the Windows 95, go to Display.  Then under Screen Saver, choose Luke's SS I.  You can press Test to test it (or the equivalent in Windows 95).  Press Setup...  to show the configuration screen.  From there, you could select the moving bitmap, choose the background colour, change the password, etc.

Uninstalling:

Why on earth would you ever want to do this?  Oh, well, never mind.  If you want to uninstall it, delete these files from your Windows directory:

LUKESSS.SCR

LUKES_SS.HLP

OW.WAV

If you want to keep OW.WAV you could.  You could delete the other files on the file list, but it's very risky because a lot of other programs might use them, especially THREED.VBX.  You might also want to delete the following line from your SYSTEM.INI file in the [386enh] section:

DEVICE=VRBTD.386

Once again, it's risky because other programs might use it.  If you're sure other programs aren't going to use it, you could also delete NOBOOT1.VBX and VRBTD.386 from your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.  If you don't know what you're doing, don't do it.

Then delete the whole [Screen Saver.Luke's] section from your CONTROL.INI file and that's it!

Copyright © 1996 by Luke Chao.  Internet: luke.chao@freenet.hamilton.on.ca


About this Program

Luke's Screen Saver I v1.0.  Shareware.

Copyright © 1996 by Luke Chao.

WWW: http://www.freenet.hamilton.on.ca/~ab470/

Internet e-mail: luke.chao@freenet.hamilton.on.ca

Telephone:  (905) 577-9480

Fax:  (905) 577-4761

The above are for tech support only!

Postal mail:

Luke Chao

30 Desjardins Crt.

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

L8S 3R8


Credits

Programming/ Design/ Idea/ Almost Everything Else:

Luke Chao

Beta Testers:

These are the people who have registered as a beta tester.  Although no one contributed anything, I can't blame them because there probably weren't any bugs in the beta version :-).  This is in alphabetical order by last name:

Chris Aiken

Phil Holland

Michael V. Iguico

Shane Kneifl

Mbondji	Nyake

Henrik Scott

James Shattuck

  John Sly

Special Thanks to:

Everyone on the Internet who helped me

Copyright © 1996 by Luke Chao.  Internet: luke.chao@freenet.hamilton.on.ca


Other Programs I Wrote

Outta Here! - Reboot, exits or restarts Windows quickly and conveniently.  Freeware.

Coming in the future (hopefully):

Luke's Screen Saver II - a screen saver that can be used as a slide show, a light show, or a movie player with password options, background music, and much, much more!

(Unnamed) - A FILE_ID.DIZ editor.  Easily write BBS descriptions.  Many features.

(Unnamed) - a game where you rule an empire in the future.  Control economics, trade, warfare, manufacturing, technology, and if you have time, you can even read the intergalactic newspaper!

(Unnamed) - an HTML editor that lets you write home pages for the Internet

(Unnamed) - a Windows resource monitor

(Unnamed) - a screen saver manager.  Test and setup screen savers, use screen savers in different directories, add music to any screen saver, random screen saver, keep the cursor on or off, "automatic" blanking, an much, much more

(Unnamed) - a collection of utilities for Windows

To get these wonderful programs, just contact me.

Copyright © 1996 by Luke Chao.  Internet: luke.chao@freenet.hamilton.on.ca


Revisions

Version 1.0 - September 1996

- This is the initial release

To be added or improved in the future if enough people ask for it and I know how to:

•	Fix some bugs

•	Add sensitivity

•	Whatever people tell me

•	Alternating background colours

•	Installation program

Copyright © 1996 by Luke Chao.  Internet: luke.chao@freenet.hamilton.on.ca


Registration

Shareware is a concept that lets programmers such as myself write good quality programs and allow the user to evaluate them before they pay.  If you use this program for more than 30 days (more than enough time for you to evaluate this program) you are required to send me a cheque for $10 CND/US plus shipping and handling (if you have a valid Internet e-mail address and you want me to e-mail you the program, you are not required to pay S&H).  If you want to receive updates, add $5 CND/US ($10 CND/US for International customers) per update for S&H (once again, it's free if by e-mail).  If you keep this unregistered program for more than 30 days and you still don't want to register, you must delete it.

Think about this:  If you use this screen saver for one year (and that's being generous), two hours a day, that's only about 1.36 cents an hour!!!

How will you benefit from registration?  Well, here are a few things to think about:

•	You'll have the latest version, personalized with your name.

•	You'll have free technical support.

•	You'll get the right to continue to use this program.

•	You'll feel a lot better (that is, if you have a conscience).

•	I'll continue to write quality programs like this one.

•	You'll keep the Shareware concept alive.

•	You'll get a whole bunch of pictures and sounds I made for this screen saver.

•	You'll get a disk of all the other freeware and shareware programs that I wrote.

For size purposes, the bottom two are only if you want the program shipped by postal mail.  I will give you a few sounds and pictures if it's shipped by e-mail.

Note that this program is not crippled in any way and it doesn't have any nag screens -- just a few messages here and there.  This will change very soon if people don't register.

Ordering Information

To order, print and fill out the order form, enclose a money order or cheque made payable to "Luke Chao" and mail it to:

Luke Chao

30 Desjardins Crt.

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

L8S 3R8

Send cash at your own risk!!!  Credit cards and COD will not be accepted.

This comes in 3.5" floppy disks only if by postal mail.

Since you've had enough time to "try before you buy", I will not be accepting returns.  However, if there is a serious bug, I will give you a free update.  Also, if the disks were lost or damaged in the mail, I will send you new ones free of charge.

Multiple Orders and other information

The discount for multiple orders (registration and source code only) are as follows.  You must pay shipping and handling for each copy.

First 3 copies	No discount	4th to 10th copies	10% discount
11th to 20th copies	20% discount	21st to 50th copies	30% discount
51st to 100th copies	40% discount	100th to 200th copies	50% discount
200 or more copies	(Ask)

Prices are subject to change.

For example, if you register five copies, that's three at the original price ($10 x 3 = 30) plus two more at a 10% discount ($10 x 0.9 x 2 = 18), which equals $48, plus shipping and handling.

Basically, here's the formula for the amount you have to pay:

(Quantity for registration x $10 - discount for multiple orders) +  (Quantity for source code x $25 - discount for multiple orders) + (Number of upgrades by mail in the US/Canada x $5) + (Number of upgrades by mail in other countries x $10) + ($5 shipping and handling if it's in the US/Canada) + ($10 shipping and handling if it's international)

I'll also have a mailing list (e-mail only), so if you want to join it, check the appropriate check box in the order form.  The mailing list will inform you of updates, news, etc.  If you've registered before and you want to upgrade, include the appropriate amount of shipping and handling, fill out the order form and send it to me.  If you want to receive the upgrade by e-mail, e-mail the form to me and you won't have to pay S&H.

I'll only accept Canadian and US funds!!!

Copyright © 1996 by Luke Chao.  Internet: luke.chao@freenet.hamilton.on.ca


Help Menu

This menu is on the main configuration form.  You can press the hotkey to activate one of these menus.

Contents

Shows the help contents.

Search

Search for a help topic.

Registration

This shows the registration topic in this help file.

About...

This shows miscellaneous information, which is exactly what'll happen if you press the About button.

Copyright © 1996 by Luke Chao.  Internet: luke.chao@freenet.hamilton.on.ca


Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting/Support

If something goes awfully wrong...

Have a problem?  This is the place to be!  You might also want to look at the Q & A and README.TXT.

Problems, problems, problems:

There are no known bugs.  Sometimes there's problem, not a bug -- a problem.  For example, if you press the buttons in a certain way, it'll allow you to choose a file when you're no supposed to.  In this case, just don't do it.

Before you contact me for technical support:

What version are you using?  Sometimes a bug is fixed in a later version.  You'll also have to tell me what program the problem's in because I have more than one program.

What messages are there before/after the crash/problem?  Make careful observations so I can try to reproduce the problem.

What settings are you using?  The best way is to e-mail me your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, your CONFIG.SYS file, your SYSTEM.INI file, your WIN.INI file, and your CONTROL.INI file.

What hardware/other software do you have?  Hardware includes: your processor, hard drive, sound card, video card, etc and software includes: operating system (Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95, etc.), other programs you have running at the time, etc.

Have you read this, the Q&A and whatever's on my web site?  A lot of questions are answered in these places.

Do you know English?  I can't answer anything in any other language (Well, maybe if enough people start to register and I get enough foreign language customers I'll get a translator).  Until then, sorry.

Are you a registered user?  I might not get back to you if you aren't.

If you're sure you've discovered a bug or whatever, here are the ways to contact me.

Copyright © 1996 by Luke Chao.  Internet: luke.chao@freenet.hamilton.on.ca


Log Options

This is on the main configuration form.

Text box

This is where you type in the file that you want to log the actions in.  The default (your Windows directory and the file LSS.LOG) is in that box if you haven't changed it already.

Browse

This is to use the "open dialog" to select a file to use as a log.

Okay

Exits and saves.

Cancel

Exits without saving.

View Log

This views the log with Notepad.  If it's too big, you might want to clear the log file and start over.  Note that the log might contain some errors, especially if you're viewing it this way; the last one or two entries might not be correct.

Clear Log

This is to clear the log file.  When you try to view it right after you use this, you'll get a blank page.

The log file tracks the time and date of the event, plus:  Every time you enter/exit the configuration, every time you enter/exit the screen saver, every invalid password and everytime the password box runs out of time.  Don't be alarmed if you see a "Exit Screen Saver Setup" but no "Start Screen Saver Setup" or vice versa because this is just because if when you enter you have a log and when you exit you don't (or vice versa) it'll do this.  If you enter the screen saver but you exit it, that means that it was ended abruptly, as if someone rebooted the computer.

If you use the screen saver a lot, the log file can grow very big fast, and if it's bigger than about 50K, you can't view it with Notepad anymore.  In this case, either view it with a different editor for the time being or delete/clear it.

Note:  Not all .LOG files are files like this.  When you're choosing a file to use, it's always smart to make a new file instead of using and existing one.

Copyright © 1996 by Luke Chao.  Internet: luke.chao@freenet.hamilton.on.ca


Order form

Press the Print button at the top to print this or press Copy to copy it to the Windows clipboard.  Please type or print neatly; illegible orders will not be processed and your money will be sent back...  if I can read the return address.

- Snip ------------------------- Cut here ------------------------- Snip -

Your registration name or company (appears in About box):

___________________________________

Your real name: ___________________

Company/organization (if applicable):

___________________________________

Your postal address:

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

Home/Day Phone (including area code):

___________________________________

Work/Evening Phone (optional):

___________________________________

[ ]DON'T send me high density disks

[ ]DON'T put me on your e-mail* mailing list

[ ]I am NOT capable of unzipping ZIP files

[ ]I have registered one of your programs before

If you checked the above, what are your Customer and Invoice IDs from

your previous order?  (See the top of your invoice for these).

___________________________________

Quantity (registration): __________                   X $10

Discount for multiple orders:                         -_______

Quantity (source code):  __________                   X $25

Discount for multiple orders:                         -_______

Upgrades:

Postal mail (US/Canada): __________                   X $5

Postal mail (Int'l):     __________                   X $10

E-mail*:                 __________

Subtotal:                                             $_______

Shipping and handling (registration and source code only):

( )E-mail*

( )Postal (US/Canada):   __________                   X $5

( )Postal (Int'l):       __________                   X $10

Total (pay this amount in US/CND dollars):            $_______

Payment method:

[ ]Cheque (made payable to "Luke Chao")

[ ]Money order (preferred)

[ ]Cash (NOT recommended - please send by registered mail)

* If you're using Internet e-mail, what is your e-mail address?

___________________________________

How do you want it to be sent to you (e-mail only)?

( )MIME Attachment	( )UUEncoded

----------------------------

| Questionaire (optional): |

----------------------------

Birthdate (MM/DD/YYYY): ___________

Fax number: _______________________

What languages do you speak?

_________________________________________________________________________

What's your occupation?  ________________________________________________

Your computer (RAM, processor, etc.): ___________________________________

Your operating system(s) (besides DOS):

[ ]Win 3.1 [ ]Win 3.11 [ ]Win 95 [ ]Win NT [ ]OS/2 2.x [ ]Other: ________

What resolution are you using?

[ ]640 x 480 [ ]800 x 600 [ ]1024 x 768 [ ]1280 x 1024 [ ]Other: ________

Where did you hear about this and/or where did you get it from?

_________________________________________________________________________

What made you decide to register?

_________________________________________________________________________

Your web page (on the Internet):

http://__________________________________________________________________

Internet e-mail address(s), if different from above:

_________________________________________________________________________

If you would rate this program on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the

highest), what would you give it?  (Circle one of the numbers):

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Other: ______

What do you like the most/least about this program?

_________________________________________________________________________

On a scale of one to ten, what would you rate your experience with

computers?  (One being beginner):

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Other: ______

I'm using this program:

[ ]At home [ ]At the office [ ]At school [ ]Other: ______________________

Comments/questions/suggestions, etc. (if you want the program shipped to a

different address, please say so here):

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

- Snip ------------------------- Cut here ------------------------- Snip -

Thank you for supporting the Shareware concept.

Copyright © 1996 by Luke Chao.  Internet: luke.chao@freenet.hamilton.on.ca


Glossary

:)

:-)

B

BBS

Bitmap

Bug

C

CD

Cheque

Custom Control

D

Darn

E

E-mail

F

Form

Freeware

FTP

H

Hotkey

I

Icon

Internet

L

Log

Luke Chao

M

MIDI

MMMovies

P

Programmer

Prompt

Public Domain

R

RGB

S

Screen Saver

Shareware

Sound Card

Speaker Driver

T

Transparent Bitmap

V

VBRUN300.DLL

Visual Basic

W

WAV

Windows

Windows Metafile

WWW


:)

This is a emoticon.  Or a smiley.  Used to show humour and/or sarcasm.  Tilt your head to "read" it.  Also:

:-)  Regular emoticon

;-)  Winking emoticon

And there's a lot of others, but I won't get into it.


:-)

See the entry on :) for more information.


BBS

Usually run by a teenager or a computer store/ company.  A place where you can get files, chat, etc.


Bitmap

A graphics format that looks terrible if you resize it.  Usually a Windows Bitmap (.BMP).


Bug

An error in a program that prevents if from functioning correctly.


CD

Stands for "Compact Disc".  Used for storing music and data.


Cheque

British spelling for "check".  Note that "cheque" doesn't have the same meaning as "cash".  Send cash at your own risk!!!


Custom Control

An add-on that lets programmers do things they couldn't normally do in a programming language (usually VB).  16 bit custom controls have the extension .VBX and 32 bit custom controls have the extension .OCX.


Darn

A substitute for a rude word.


E-mail

Stands for "Electronic Mail".  In this case, it's Internet e-mail.  A lot faster and convienient and less expensive than postal mail or "snail mail".


Form

Geek for "window" or "screen".


Freeware

Programs that are Freeware are free.  They differ from Public Domain in the way that they are usually copyrighted.


FTP

"File Transfer Protocol".  Lets you get or send files on the Internet.


Hotkey

A combination of kestrokes like CTRL-C.


Icon

A little 32 by 32 pixel picture.


Internet

A network of computers.  When people say Internet they usually mean "WWW" or "E-mail".


Log

A record.


Luke Chao

The programmer.  See the "About this program" topic for more information.


MIDI

I think it stands for "Musical Instrument Digital Interface" or something like that... I'll have to check it up.


MMMovies

Multimedia Movies.


Programmer

A person who writes computer programs.  Sometimes also know as a developer.


Prompt

Question.  Ask.  Query.


Public Domain

It means what it says.  Or, it's software that isn't copyrighted.


RGB

"Red Green Blue".  You can make over 16,000,000 colours using this.


Screen Saver

A program that prevents phosphor burn-in.


Shareware

You are probably familiar with terms such as "public domain", "Freeware" and "Shareware".  But what exactly is Shareware?  It's a method of distribution where the user receives the program first for evaluation and the he/she pays for it.  See the registration topic for more information.


Sound Card

The part of the computer that lets you hear sound through the speakers.


Speaker Driver

A program that lets you hear sounds (besides beeps) through the PC speaker without a sound card.


Transparent Bitmap

A bitmap that lets the background show throught in some places.


VBRUN300.DLL

Runtime library for Visual Basic 3.0 programs.  VB 2.0 programs need VBRUN200.DLL, etc.


Visual Basic

A programming language for Windows.  This program was written in Visual Basic 3.0.


WAV

A sound format.  Probably the most popular.  Can be recorded using Sound Recorder.


Windows

An operating system.  If you're reading this, you know how to use it.


Windows Metafile

A graphics format.  Unlike bitmaps, if you stretch it, it looks okay.


WWW

Stands for "World Wide Web".  The part of the Internet that most people use the most.